September TS #1 Muhammad January 22, 2016

We met at Strozier Library from 4:30-5:50

After having texted Muhammad several times and getting a handle on his goals, I had prepared an activity so that I could get a base line on his knowledge in his area of interest.  Muhammad wants to be able to listen to academic topics and lectures with high comprehension.  Three parts of the TESOL have listening comprehension, so he is anxious about his skill in this area.  After passing the TESOL, he will be attending Florida State University.

I had searched the internet for 10 photos with classroom scenes, studying scenes, exams, and classroom tools and technology.  I showed the photos to Muhammad individually and asked him to describe each one in about 3-4 sentences.  Though this was not a listening comprehension activity, I was able to assess his vocabulary level with regards to academic topics.  During this portion of our time together, Muhammad seemed relatively at ease.  His vocabulary and diction were incredible considering his only having studied English for one year.  I would have thought he had been studying for at least 4 years or more.

From the photos he was able to identify many details; here are a few impressive ones:
archaeology, geometry, mathematics, calculator, geography, projector, laser, older students, typical classroom, special needs students (he used some help with this one, but he almost got it himself), white haired lady, power point slides, professor, lecture, library, shelf

Here are some words he will be working on for next week:
media center, bald, braille, handicapped, scan-tron, blue book, #2 pencil, laser/clicker/remote, shelf/shelves, put it on ice, blind, deaf, pro, dive into something, role sheet, office hours

After this, we talked about how he is preparing himself for TESOL.  He has a Chinese website that is very helpful.  It has lectures with questions following.  We watched a few, pausing every once in a while to discuss vocabulary, then answered the questions.

For the last 15 minutes, I pulled up a power point presentation and did a fake lecture for him as though he was a student in a real FSU classroom.  I went through role taking, syllabus, classroom rules and expectations, and 1/2 of chapter 1 of my current Anthropology book.  He took notes.

His note taking skills need improvement, but we will work on that in our upcoming sessions.

We discussed the many thing he didn't quite catch while I lectured.  He did a decent job- at least 50% comprehension- I spoke fast like a regular professor.   I had specific questions for him to answer.  He guided me on how TESOL asks questions so that I could create my questions properly next time.


I am not sure if this is a good log, so if Professor Kim or Ramin would give feedback, I would greatly appreciate.